Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would talk to talk about a young lady from my riding, Kristen Tanche. She is a Liildlii Kue First Nation Dehcho Dene and is of Icelandic and settler Canadian ancestry. She was raised in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, and lived in Whati, Gameti, Yellowknife, and Fort Simpson. As a young adult, she returned to Fort Simpson to reconnect with her family, community, and Dene culture, and where she currently resides.

Over the years, Kristen has been passionate about her education. She has attended the University of Northern British Columbia and took three semesters through Dechinta University, which offered post-secondary land-based education. Her three semesters included one at Blachford Lake, another in the Mackenzie Mountains, Indigenous Boreal Guardianship Pilot Program, and lastly a Dehcho River semester.

Currently, Kristen is in her second year of the Social Work Diploma Program through Aurora College and is completing her final practicum placement in Fort Simpson at the Children and Family Services within the Dehcho Regional Health and Social Services. She is set to graduate this April. Kristen has said that, "My education journey is not stopping once I graduate. I have plans to continue with my education either in a formal setting by completing a degree in social work and/or through learning from elders and traditional knowledge holders to become immersed in learning from my Dene culture."

Kristen chose to change her career path after many years in office administration, then tourism, to that of the social work field for numerous reasons. After many years of struggling with her own issues, she has seen others struggle, and seeing a need for more northern Indigenous people in the helping profession, she decided to pursue her hopes of helping people.

Throughout her years, Kristen was involved with leadership roles. She was elected on the Liidli Kue First Nation Band Council, and served on Fort Simpson District Education Authority. She has served as an alumni member on the Dechinta Board of Directors and was also involved with the NWT Tourism Board as the Dehcho Regional Member. More recently, Kristen was accepted as part of the fourth cohort of the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship, a policy development program for Northern people.

Kristen believes in being actively engaged in her community and region by involving within local politics. Her passion was highlighted in the TV documentary series Dene: A Journey, where she featured in a season two episode.

She is passionate about the people in the community and the people of the North's well-being. She has plans to stay in the North to continue on her journey in hopes of giving back to her community and region in the NWT. In closing, I would like to recognize Cece McCauley. She was the founding chief of the Inuvik Dene band and Honorary Chief for life. She was the first woman chief among the 23 chiefs in the Northwest Territories. She has shown tremendous leadership and courage throughout her life and has never been afraid to speak her mind. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.